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reflux or oversupply/oald

Baby is 6 weeks old and nursing used to go great until about a week ago. She latches on and eats pretty good for about 3-5 minutes and then begins to scream and then pop on and off for the rest of the feeding while being very fussy. When I let down she sucks and gulps a lot but she doesnt choke or anything like that. I took her to the ped today because this has really upset me (and her) and I have felt like a failure and so I wanted to make sure nothing was phsically wrong with her. The ped said that physically she was fine-gaining weight (was 6lb 5 oz at birth and today was 8lb 12oz) and that maybe it was reflux. She also mentioned OALD/oversupply and I told her I didnt think that was the issue because she doesnt start screaming until after the initial sucking/gulping phase. She told me to try feeding her more upright and if that doesnt seem to help over the next few days to start giving her the zantac. Im so confused because reading a lot of these posts it sounds like maybe it is OALD but then maybe its reflux. Im nervous about trying the block feedings to decrease my supply if thats not really the problem and then losing my milk supply. Im so confused-I dont know what to do because i dont want to do the wrong thing because i want to breastfeed so bad--please please help!!!!!!

Re: reflux or oversupply/oald

Hello and welcome to the forum!

When she pops off do you have a spray of milk? When she is done eating do you feel as though she has drained the first breast? If so, is she still interested in the other breast? Here are two links that may help you determine which may be your problem:

Re: reflux or oversupply/oald

When she pops off there is not a spray of milk-its drips down a little. Im not sure if she empties the first breast. She seems to get fussy a couple minutes after the let down and then I will try to latch her back on and she will go on and off and on and off and sometimes will finally get going again for another 2-3 minutes and then get fussy again so this is when I switch to the other side and sometimes she goes right on and does the whole thing over--eats great and then gets fussy. Sometimes it takes a minute or two to get her latched on to the other side because she is so fussy. At the end of the 2nd breast she gets fussy again and pops on and off and ater trying to get her going again (sometimes she does and sometimes she doesnt) we end it and she will cry for a minute and then after that we give her the pacifier or burp her and she seems pretty content. So really shes only on one side for about ten minutes-but if you consider just the actual sucking and swallowing its probaby only about 6-8 minutes--maybe. She eats about every 2 hours during the day and then at night anywhere from 3-5 hours. Generally shes content in between feedings but usually has the pacifier in. Its just gotten so frustrating and I just want to make it better so we can be happy again.

Re: reflux or oversupply/oald

My little girl did the same at 5 weeks turns out she has cow's milk allergy (the protiens in it) I stopped all dairy and now she eats wonderfully, no more latching on and off and screaming you might try it for a week. (I noticed a difference within days) Do not stop breastfeeding at this point, I agree you might want to contact the LLL in your area.

Re: reflux or oversupply/oald

I had a similar problem from almost the beginning. At about 3 weeks, he fussed a lot. I couldn't tell if I had too much milk or too little. Someone said to feed the child with the mother lying down or in side position. It seems to help because gravity in the baby-on-top-of-mom position keeps the OALD from overwhelming the baby.